Chapter 9: I Am a Loser (Confidence)
Chapter 9
Shen Yichen seemed to have already decided where to eat, and did not call Old Zhang either. He drove himself out.
Shen Yue sat in the passenger seat of Shen Yichen's car for a long time, not yet recovered from the shock.
This was her big brother's passenger seat. In her last life, not to mention sitting here, she had not even seen it before! She must be blessed in this life. Heaven must have let her experience things she'd never tried before, so that he could go to jail more at ease later.
Shen Yue understood. She decided to live each day as if it were her last from now on, and strive to rest more.
Shen Yichen stopped the car at a red light and glanced over to see Shen Yue with a determined look on her face.
Shen Yichen: ?
Why this expression?
Could she be thinking about Shang Junyu's matter? Planning to secretly meet with Shang Junyu? That won't do. The Shen family's daughter absolutely must not be defiled by a pig.
Shen Yichen decided he must bring Shen Yue out to play until very late today, so that she would have no time to find Shang Junyu.
The two arrived at Jufu Building. After eating everything Shen Yue wanted to eat, Shen Yichen also brought Shen Yue to the Shen family mall.
As soon as they entered the mall, the manager brought them to a VIP private room. After a while, a group of girls around the same figure as Shen Yue began walking in front of Shen Yue wearing different clothes.
Shen Yue: ?
She knew what this was, nothing more than a little trick to coax her into buying clothes.
However, in her memory, it seemed that it wasn't until she went to college that her parents told her she could buy clothes like this. Before she got into college, she had a fixed allowance and could not spend money casually. This made her always think that she was just the daughter of an ordinary family with a little pocket money.
"Shen Yue, see which ones you like."
Shen Yue counted the pocket money she had now and the average price of the clothes in this store, and uncertainly asked, "Do you have specific prices for the clothes?"
Shen Yichen was stunned by the question. As a Shen family member, when buying things, there was only liking or not liking. As long as it was something they liked, no matter how much it cost, they had to buy it. Why on earth would Shen Yue ask this?
In a daze, Shen Yichen recalled the long-absent Shen family rules that pocket money before adulthood could not exceed 10,000 per month.
However, as far as he knew, his other younger brothers could easily earn back many times that amount. When he was Shen Yue’s age, he could also easily use the stock market to top up as much money as he needed. Only Shen Yue...
[I'm only interested in sleeping.]
Shen Yue's famous quote appeared in Shen Yichen's mind again. He sighed deeply.
As the saying goes, poor people raise children and rich people raise daughters. It seemed like there were some problems in their family.
"Just say it if you like something. I'll pay." Shen Yichen said lightly, really giving off the aura of a domineering CEO.
If it weren't for the 12-year-old girl beside him, rumors of a wealthy domineering CEO spending lavishly for love would surely spread the next day...
This was exactly what Shen Yue was waiting for. She couldn't spend money recklessly now. No matter where she went after entering prison, she would need money and had to save up a little nest egg for herself. Whenever she could use someone else's money, she would!
As for why Shen Yue was so certain she would go to prison...she hadn't remembered that part yet.
Her memories didn't seem to have fully returned, but she vaguely had this feeling.
However, as Shen Yue's memories gradually became clearer, she found that there were powerful big sisters who protected her in prison, as well as very handsome men. It didn't seem so bad to go in.
"Thank you, big brother!" Shen Yue smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents, very lovely, completely different from how she used to hide when she saw Shen Yichen before.
Shen Yichen was also a little lost for a moment. Compared to her lying in bed just now, the current Shen Yue looked much more lively.
"Mm, just say it if you like something." 𝚏r𝐞𝗲𝚠eb𝚗o𝐯el.com
"Okay!" Shen Yue readily agreed, but after looking around, she only picked a simple and neat white dress in the end.
It was a style with no flaws, but Shen Yichen still felt it was too plain.
"Big brother, I've chosen."
"Just one?"
"Mm! I just like this one! Buying one is enough."
Shen Yichen frowned. The Shen family didn't have the concept of only buying one piece of clothing when shopping. "Too few."
Shen Yue felt a little embarrassed. After finding out she wasn't the Shen family's daughter, she felt awkward spending money and subconsciously didn't dare buy too much.
But she had no way to tell Shen Yichen the truth. Recalling the anti-getting-caught-in-a-lie tricks taught by the prison boss, she started tugging Shen Yichen's hand coquettishly. "It's not too little. We can come back to buy more next time."
Shen Yichen, who was just about to ask her to buy a few more, suddenly stopped. He realized Shen Yue's "intentions"—she wanted to come out with him to buy clothes in the future too.
This little sister really calculated well. He had to manage such a huge conglomerate every day, approving and overseeing contracts worth billions. Where would he have time to accompany her out frequently? She really didn't know her limits after getting some preferential treatment...
But compared to how she was lying in bed just now, the current Shen Yue looked much more lively.
"Then buy more next time."
Shen Yue saw that Shen Yichen had conceded and gave a mischievous heh heh. The prison boss really was omnipotent. The little techniques she taught were so useful!
She had to find an opportunity to record all the "knowledge" the prison boss had taught in her memories!
The marketing manager who had been accompanying them recognized Shen Yichen. She had originally thought it would be a big sale and specially invited little models at high prices, bringing all the clothes in the store over for selection. She didn't expect that in the end, only one ordinary white dress was sold?
Wasn't this hitting her in the face as a gold-medal salesperson?
No, she had to earn back the appearance fees for the models just now.
Thinking of this, she went up to Shen Yichen and Shen Yue, maintaining a distance that wouldn't make people uncomfortable. Smiling, she suggested, "Little miss has such good taste. This is a new design for this season. Our store only has one. According to the previous designer's concept, the simple, smooth lines of this white dress, along with the deconstructed and reassembled design, make each part of the dress complete yet able to exist independently. With different accessories, it can achieve different effects. Do you need me to introduce it to you in more detail?"
Hearing this long string of words suddenly spoken in a comfortable tone and gentle voice made Shen Yue stare blankly. Wow, this lady was so elegant and beautiful, with such a nice voice. If she had money, she would definitely say I want it, want it, buy it, buy it! But she didn't have money now, so she could only refuse.
In prison, she had to bravely refuse some unreasonable things, or she would become very miserable. Having gained these memories, Shen Yue now had the ability to reject others without feeling guilty.
Just as Shen Yue was about to refuse, she heard Shen Yichen readily agree, "Bring them over to see."
The sales manager's smile grew even more radiant. She clapped her hands, and rows of accessories arranged elegantly in velvet boxes were also brought before Shen Yue.
"This tassel tie pin has natural pink diamonds embedded, which can be used to gather the collar. Paired with these two sleeve ties, the originally elegant style can be transformed into an exquisite, noble one."
As the sales manager introduced, she also pulled over the model still wearing this dress and fiddled with her.
Sure enough, after being done up, the originally low-key dress did look much flashier. But Shen Yue wasn't very interested. It was too troublesome with the tie pin and sleeve ties. The plain dress alone was simpler.
Just as Shen Yue was about to refuse, Shen Yichen spoke again before she could open her mouth. "Pack it up."
"Help the Young Master Shen pack up new ones." Hearing a deal made, the sales manager's eyes curved a few more degrees, but she did not stop and continued showcasing other accessories.
"There's also this punk belt, which can create a non-abrupt contrast with the dress's refined temperament itself. Paired with these ankle boots, an explosive effect can be achieved. Young Miss has excellent external conditions and can try more styles to choose what you like."
Shen Yichen: "Pack it up."
"This bag is very suitable for the young miss. Its design concept is..."
Shen Yichen: "Pack it up."
"This neck accessory..."
Shen Yichen: "Pack it up."
"This clothing with the previous accessories is also particularly good-looking..."
Shen Yichen: "Pack it up."
"This style..."
"Wrap it up."
Shen Yue was stunned. She couldn't get a word in edgewise as the sales manager enthusiastically introduced item after item and Shen Yichen expressionlessly said, "I'll take it."
Shen Yue watched with her own eyes as Shen Yichen went from buying accessories at first to buying her piles of clothes to match the accessories, and then to purchasing many new bags to go with the newly bought clothes.
This gave Shen Yue a whole new perspective on men's purchasing power - who said men couldn't compete with women?
After she finally reacted, she interrupted Shen Yichen, "Big brother! That's really enough, don't buy so much."
Shen Yichen automatically converted her words to: "Big brother, are you buying so much because you won't accompany me next time? I want you to accompany me, not the clothes!"
Shen Yichen, who had previously been wholeheartedly focused on his career ambitions, sincerely felt at this moment that having a little sister who doted on him was pretty nice.
He softened his voice and said, "Alright, we'll buy more next time."
Shen Yue was suddenly a little scared. Big brother hadn't gotten angry at her for many days now. She felt like her luck was running out, so she quickly thought back to her terrifying memories of him when he was angry.
Thank you, that made her feel much more at ease.
After they finished picking out the clothes, it was time to buy a cell phone. This time Shen Yichen didn't let Shen Yue choose. He took her directly to the store, took out a card, and a salesperson immediately came over holding an exquisitely packaged box. Even the SIM card was prepared.
Shen Yichen took the phone and looked it over left and right before placing it in Shen Yue's hands. "This is your new phone. The new number is already saved in it under your name Shen Yue. From now on, you can only give your contact information to people you trust. Understand?"
Shen Yue nodded. "Okay, brother."
The purchased clothes were packaged up to be delivered to the Shen house. Shen Yichen took Shen Yue out of the mall and asked if she wanted to do anything else fun.
But after eating, Shen Yue felt exhausted without even doing anything. She said she just wanted to go home and lie down.
When he heard the words "lie down," Shen Yichen unconsciously frowned. In the Shen family's educational philosophy, if one didn't have goals or the will to progress and just wanted to lie down comfortably, then they were no different from a useless person.
Some wealthy families often doted excessively on their children, especially families with daughters. They would say things like "You're daddy's little princess. It's okay even if you don't know how to do anything. Daddy and mommy will give you everything." But the Shen family didn't have this kind of tradition. You had to fight for everything yourself. At most, the Shen family would provide for you until age 22.
Even though Shen Yue was the Shen family's only daughter, this still applied.
Shen Yichen was the Shen family's eldest son. He currently controlled 40% of the Shen Group's shares. This was the portion that was divided to him after he passed the heir examination. Aside from the Shen family branches, the remaining 30% was distributed by the parents based on the other children's performances.
For example, the second son was currently a top celebrity in the entertainment industry, but he still hadn't reached the father's ideal standards, so he hadn't received any shares yet.
The third son did reach the standards, but the special nature of his work didn't allow him to hold a large number of group shares anymore.
There would be no surprises when the fourth son inherited shares after his research produced results.
The fifth son was the most intelligent and didn't need to worry at all.
Only Shen Yue - Shen Yichen felt her situation was very problematic right now.
If this little sister wasn't taught properly, it was highly likely she would become the only person in the Shen family who ended up homeless in the future. And Shen Yichen was now 80% sure that even if Shen Yue did become homeless, there would be only one thing she did - lie there.
It was still too dangerous for Shen Yue to return to school right now, but if he just let her lie around at home, Shen Yichen felt he couldn't bear to watch.
The Shen family had always walked the kingly way, relying on their own abilities to inherit from their ancestors and pave the way forward. There absolutely could not be someone who just ate and waited to die, not even if it was his little sister.
It seemed he would have to start by correcting her ideology.
If their parents didn't teach her properly, then he would take over.
That night, someone contemplated 100 ways to get revenge on the Shang family based on the information they had gathered. Someone else stayed up all night thinking about how to correct the useless ideology of eating and waiting for death. And someone happily hummed a song as she lay in bed reading a novel, completely unaware that her simple, honest wish was about to push her into the abyss of striving and struggling.
...
"Me? Go on a variety show? Why?!" Shen Yue received distressing news on the third day of lying in bed.
Shen Yichen took out a napkin with one hand and wiped the black pepper sauce from the corner of Shen Yue's mouth, while saying indifferently, "Lying around at home all day, I was afraid you'd get bored, so I found something for you to do."
Shen Yue answered quickly, "I'm not bored."
Shen Yichen ignored her words and continued, "Your second brother will be on the show with you. If there are any questions you don't want to answer, just stay silent."
Shen Yue felt a little wronged. "Can I..."
"You can't."
Shen Yichen cut her off before she could even get the word "not" out.
In order to keep lying down, Shen Yue's brain started running at high speed. "But if I go on a variety show, I'll have to talk, right? I'm supposed to not be able to speak now, aren't I?"
Shen Yichen remained calm. "You'll eventually have to go back to school. You can't keep silent forever. On the show, you can choose to overcome your difficulties and start speaking again when appropriate. I'll take care of the rest."
Shen Yue wanted to say more, but Shen Yichen had already stood up. "Tomorrow at 10am, the program team will come to film a departure video. You need to pack your bags and leave with them for Jiang City. The entire show will be broadcast live, so pay attention."
Hearing him say this much, Shen Yue knew she had to participate in this show no matter what.
Damn it!
After Shen Yichen left, Shen Yue suddenly realized she had forgotten to ask what the variety show was called.
But if her second brother was participating too, it should be easy to find.
She remembered from her memories that her second brother had finally become a movie star, established an entertainment company, and stood at the apex of the entertainment industry food chain as a powerful man. He didn't seem that amazing yet now, but he was still very impressive.
A first-tier A-lister, career on the rise, some minor scandals but no romance rumors.
Ah, found it.
Shen Shuangyi was about to appear with his 12-year-old sister on the variety show Strive for Rome.
Shen Yue searched for information about this variety show. It was a newly planned show that had just started. She was part of the first batch of guests.
The concept of the show was very simple: Let the children in Rome also understand the importance of striving.
Shen Yue: ?
What was she supposed to strive for? Strive to get into prison?